Conventional methods of unlocking a cashbox include, for example, a method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-128764. This method is as follows. A person who receives money in a cashbox goes to the spot, and makes a call to a reception desk in a telephone office from a public phone. The person who receives money into a cashbox makes a telephone conversation with a receptionist at the reception desk, and during the telephone conversation, the person who receives money into a cashbox uses a push button dial to send an ID number, or passes a cipher by voice. Then, the receptionist at the reception desk checks the ID number or cipher, and if it is found to be authorized one, he or she sends a lock releasing command to the public phone and simultaneously invalidates this ID number or cipher to set a new ID number or cipher. The mechanism of a lock A of the public phone is released by this lock releasing command, and the person who receives money into a cashbox uses a duplicate key to release a lock B. In this way, the cashbox is unlocked.
However, the conventional unlocking method described above has a problem such that a full-service operator is required for unlocking a cashbox, thus making it impossible to achieve labor savings. In addition, one person can unlock the cashbox if he or she can know one ID number, and thus there is some limitation in ensuring security.
The present invention has been made in view of the above aspects, and the object thereof is to provide an unlocking method capable of achieving labor savings by unmanning a system on the side of an object to be unlocked, and ensuring high security.
The unlocking method of the present invention is characterized in that an object to be unlocked capable of sending/receiving an identification code by radio, and a plurality of electronic lock devices capable of sending/receiving identification codes by radio are provided, and a plurality of identification codes are used to perform an unlocking operation in the object to be unlocked.
In this unlocking method, the plurality of electronic lock devices send different identification codes repeatedly in a linked manner using as a starting identification code an identification code sent from the object to be unlocked if the received identification code is correct, and the object to be unlocked receives an identification code sent from the last electronic lock device, and undergoes the unlocking operation if the identification code is correct.
As another example, the plurality of electronic lock devices send different identification codes repeatedly in a linked manner using as a starting identification code an identification code sent from the object to be unlocked if the received identification code is correct, and the object to be unlocked receives the plurality of identification codes sent from the plurality of electronic lock devices, and undergoes the unlocking operation if the identification codes are correct.
As still another example, the plurality of electronic lock devices send different identification codes repeatedly in a linked manner using as a starting identification code an identification code sent from the object to be unlocked if the received identification code is correct and the owner of the electronic lock device is to be found an authorized owner from a detected biological feature, and the object to be unlocked receives an identification code sent from the last electronic lock device, and undergoes the unlocking operation if the identification code is correct.